When stepping into Walt Disney World’s new Pandora – The World of Avatar, it’s easy to let your eyes fix directly on the land’s impressive floating mountains and cascading waterfalls or feel the urge to hop on one of the area’s rides as quickly as possible.

But as we recently learned from Imagineer Joe Rohde, being immersed in a world like Disney has created with Pandora is not only about keeping you entertained with large-scale distractions, it’s also about the tiny details. From decals and signs to rusty and furry textures, the details of Pandora play a vital role in telling its story. As Rohde put it, “no matter how closely you look, no matter how much you look down, you will remain inside this world.”

There are far too many of these details to fit into one place, so today we begin a new series of photography-heavy posts from Pandora, specifically devoted to its many details.

We start our tour with a walk through the Valley of Mo’ara, continuing around and underneath the floating mountains, and ending up at Pongu Pongu. In future installments, we’ll get up close with the land’s rides as well as look at the finer points of its store and restaurant.

As you scroll through the photos below, remember that each one of these many details were created by hand by one of Disney’s many talented artists. Read the signs. Examine the textures. Appreciate the sculptures. And celebrate the many creative decisions these artists made in the 5+ years they tirelessly worked on this project…

VALLEY OF MO’ARA – THE DETAILS
(Click to enlarge any of the photos.)

Tomorrow, we’ll take a closer look at the many details found throughout the Na’vi River Journey and Flight of Passage experiences. Hopefully your takeaway from this photo series will be that next time you are in a theme park, stop to notice the smaller elements that are painstakingly crafted to create fully believable environments.

DISCOVER MORE FROM PANDORA – THE WORLD OF AVATAR IN OUR 3-PART ‘UNEARTHING PANDORA’ SERIES:

Founder of Inside the Magic. Since growing up in Miami, Florida and ultimately moving to Orlando after college, Ricky has become an expert on Central Florida's many theme parks and attractions. He founded Inside the Magic in 2005.

Based in Orlando, Florida, Inside the Magic was created in 2005 by Ricky Brigante. What started as a tiny web site and short weekly podcast has grown to the multimedia-driven experience it is today, focusing on bringing you all things fun, every day.

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